Feliks C, after the Labour Camp.
Tom Holloway (xuegx@CSV.WARWICK.AC.UK)
Fri, 29 Mar 1996 17:44:23 +0000
Hello to Mary Haas from Feliks Chustecki. I am on the panel
of Elders because at 14 I was sent with my family to a slave
labour camp in Russia.
>In preparing a paper to give at a meeting of teachers, I am interested in
>having memories of schooling during WWII. What did you study about the war?
My schooling was interrupted at 14 when the Russians invaded
Eastern Poland at the same time the Germans invaded Western
Poland. Before that at school a lot of time was devoted to
the history of the First World.
After we were released from the Labour Camp and I somehow
got to Southern Russia and Persia, and in 1942 I reached
Palestine at the age 16 and attended Polish Cadet School
there. We studied how WW2 had started and the pact between
Britain/Poland/France which resulted in Poland being drawn
into the War, then the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which meant
the destruction of our country, divided between Germany and
Russia.
>If and how did teachers deal with your feelings and fears about the war?
They didn't. The facts were there. We were not coccooned
from reality - we were part of history and there was no
stuff about being calmed down by amateur psychologists. Now
if something happens there is something called
'counselling'. Children are supposed to be protected from
everything. Then, we were part of the game. I was deported
with my parents in a cattle truck. Who was there to counsel
us? The cattle trucks were locked and the guards were there
to shoot us if we tried to escape. Every few days we were
given water and for first week we only got that, then after
second week we were given fish soup and some bread. This
was more important than being made calm by counselling.
>Did you take part in programs and drives supporting the war efforts? How
>did you feel about these activities? Did soldiers visit classes when they
Cadet School was based on Military Discipline. We had
visits from representatives of the Polish Air Force and the
Army. This was to recruit us to one or the other. We were
all eager to get into action after all the suffering we had
been through and seen. We wanted to contribute something to
the effort. I was recruited to become an Air Force Pilot
and so I came to Britain.
>where there was a potential or particular threat that most children would not
I don't know what you mean. In my case, Russians came on
10th February 1940. They woke us at 2am and told us we have
one hour to get some things on the sledges and pull it to
the station. My father was guarded by a soldier while my
Mother and I collected what we could. The threat was that
we would all be shot if we tried to run or resist. It was
not a game. We were pushed into the trucks with many other
families and then they were locked. There was no
counselling.
Feliks Chustecki